When It Comes to Grammar, Practice Works Better Than Explanation

Last Sunday, when asked why in English we put -(e)s after a verb, besides telling my neice that -(e)s is added to a verb and that a /s/ or /z/ sound is heard when the subject is third person singular, I asked her to tell me something about her mother, her teacher, her best friend, etc.  My neice was happy to say something about these people because they are close to her and they are real.  When she forgot to utter the /s/ or /z/ sound, I repeated the verb with a rising intonation, and she had no problems correcting the mistake on her own.

I believe that when it comes to English grammar, only by using the language to communicate can learners really internalize the rules.  Whenever teaching grammar, I didn't spend much time explaining a rule; instead, I would invite the students to use the rules, either by listening to how it is used in communication and then responding or by making sentences to talk about their or others' life.  "Learning by doing" is always my approach to teaching grammar.